Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4. This was the Year of the Console. Maybe the first of many. I know this year, maybe the first of many, was the year I found myself coveting my neighbor's games.

Well, coveting my neighbors game is a sin I find myself dwelling on lately, mainly cause of the consoles and the fact that games get launched for the PC months after the console launch. But hey no one will ever beat the PC for versatility, mod ability and upgrade potential. Call me a purist...

Part of it is a general trend wherein PC gaming used to be the realm of more casual players who didn't want to spend money on a console that *only* played games, to a situaiton where ti si much easier, if your a gamer, to jsut buy a console. Any game you buy for it will work, in all likelyhood. Bugs will be minimal. No system requirements to worry about. No need to upgarde every 2 years just to play games.

I've been a PC gamer ever since the SNES died, but I got a PS2 last year, and am looking at getting a Wii.

Chilango2:Bugs will be minimal. No system requirements to worry about. No need to upgarde every 2 years just to play games.

Red ring of death? id say that a substantial bug.

I would agree with you, consoles are becoming more the "gamers" choice, but the closer the consoles get to acting like PC's, (hard drives, internet connectivity, etc) the more they will inherit the same issues. Granted that time is still a gen or two away, but it will happen. Those that embrace quality over quantity and seperate themselves from the casual crowd by understanding the machines they play on will reap the rewards.

I would agree with you, consoles are becoming more the "gamers" choice, but the closer the consoles get to acting like PC's, (hard drives, internet connectivity, etc) the more they will inherit the same issues. Granted that time is still a gen or two away, but it will happen. Those that embrace quality over quantity and seperate themselves from the casual crowd by understanding the machines they play on will reap the rewards.

so true - i think we all know the main reason consoles are getting a huge leap over the PC is beause of the explosion of the 'casual gamer' market that these companies have embraced and not to mention game developers (eg making their games more user friendly etc) - this issue really sortve ticks me off considering i dont want games to be easier, im finding my self in a paradox where as a child i was facing some of the hardest games ever made (on the SNES) and as i grow up, and my intelligence and coordination get substantially better, i find myself finishing games in about 2 days... are we going backwards here?

Its true the console is winning over the PC in terms of gaming - but i prefer the PC for what else it can offer and its versatility. sure it requires more love, care and knowledge to maintain the thing - but its worth it in the end. PLUS mouse&keyboard > anything else

Chilango2:Part of it is a general trend wherein PC gaming used to be the realm of more casual players who didn't want to spend money on a console that *only* played games, to a situaiton where ti si much easier, if your a gamer, to jsut buy a console. Any game you buy for it will work, in all likelyhood. Bugs will be minimal. No system requirements to worry about. No need to upgarde every 2 years just to play games.

I've been a PC gamer ever since the SNES died, but I got a PS2 last year, and am looking at getting a Wii.

Same story here--last console before picking up a PS2 a year and a half ago was a Genesis. Picked up the PS2 for God of War.

I think you're right about the shift in casual gamers--used to be you would upgrade your computer every 2 years for internet/CDR burning/broadband/etc and you were good to go for most of the games out there. Now my computer does everything other than play games I need it to do as quick as I could want. It used to be that you could justify a gaming upgrade because everything else would speed up too. Now old hardware is fine for everything *but* high-end gaming. I think in addition to the things you mentioned, that's killing PC gaming.

That, and I hate mouse and keyboard for anything but 4X and RTS, so...

>I know this year, maybe the first of many, was the year I found myself coveting my neighbor's games.

Not me. All the big hyped console games have either turned out not to be that good after all, or else they are coming to the PC. Perhaps a little later, but I'm in no hurry.

Also my PC has things a console can't give me - Vampire: Bloodlines (replaying a year later, having a blast again), Sam & Max, the Witcher, NWN2 with all its mods and expansions, Puzzle Pirates, Bookworm adventures, a huge library of classic games still worth playing, etc.

Mind you, I'm not saying PC gaming is "dead" but its gotten to be alot more of a hassle. Granted, Consoles often have serious manufacturing faults when they first come out, but that's why I didn't even consider a PS2 till last year, it suited my need perfectly, it was a more or less perfected console with a already available wide library of games for me to choose from.

It's the perfect "look, I just want to play some new to me games" solution, IMHO.

You morons say the PC is "losing" or "dying" every fucking year and its never true. You can take that tacky little white imposter the 360 as evidence that PC gaming has never been more popular, and will probably just end up absorbing every other platform over the next decade until there's no distinction between "consoles" and "PC" at all. Consoles stopped being consoles a generation ago. Now they're little "PC Lites" complete with browsers, bugs, defects, media and all the other stupid bullshit I used to hate dealing with on my PC.

The problem with PC gaming is the god damn hassle. It doesn't matter how high end you're PC is, starting up a PC game can be a pain in the butt. Sometimes it doesn't detect the joystick, sometimes you have to do upgrades, adjust the settings (sound or video). Then after all that you have to test the game to see if it all flows, and if it doesn't- repeat untill you get it right. That's just too much in order to play a game, I bought a 2,000 US$ PC early this year so I can game my ass off (I also use it to do my 3D renderings) but ever since I got my wii and 360 about a month later I don't use the PC for gaming (except for a few rounds of Street Figter 3 on my arcade emulator) with my two consoles I can just pop in the game and enjoy...

Wait. All of the games you just mentioned are first person shooters. If you don't mind my asking, why in the hell did you buy a Wii if shooters are all you seem to love? Okay, so Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect aren't first person shooters, but they're also not the sort of game you'd even expect to show up on Wii. You wouldn't buy a PS3 if all you wanted to play was Mario, would you? Not that anyone would buy a PS3 in the first place, of course. :)

I also have a beef with calling this year the first year of the console, when consoles have always and will always dominate the game industry, in every statistical category.

superjupi:I also have a beef with calling this year the first year of the console, when consoles have always and will always dominate the game industry, in every statistical category.

Consoles HAVE always dominated the mainstream crowd, what the media sees as the gaming industry, to this I fully agree. But the gaming industry is very much like the auto industry. The consoles are your Toyota's, Honda's, Chevy's and Ford's while PC gaming takes the role of Audi, Porsche, BMW etc. Sales figures will say "OOH LOOKIE, XBOX Games are outselling PC games 5 to 1!!!" And thats fine, if you want to be a casual gamer then that means your not bothering me while I play my PC games. You just have to remember what drives the technology in consoles is what is being developed for PC's. Just like how Auto manufacturers race test the products before they use the same engineering in consumer vehicles.

superjupi:I also have a beef with calling this year the first year of the console, when consoles have always and will always dominate the game industry, in every statistical category.

Consoles HAVE always dominated the mainstream crowd, what the media sees as the gaming industry, to this I fully agree. But the gaming industry is very much like the auto industry. The consoles are your Toyota's, Honda's, Chevy's and Ford's while PC gaming takes the role of Audi, Porsche, BMW etc. Sales figures will say "OOH LOOKIE, XBOX Games are outselling PC games 5 to 1!!!" And thats fine, if you want to be a casual gamer then that means your not bothering me while I play my PC games. You just have to remember what drives the technology in consoles is what is being developed for PC's. Just like how Auto manufacturers race test the products before they use the same engineering in consumer vehicles.

Honestly, from a World of Warcraft devotee stand point the console wars don't matter. As long as I have my laptop and good internet connection I don't give a damn about consoles. On the other hand, when my connection is down, I gotta say the XBox 360 wins my vote with Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and Bioshock.

"Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4. This was the Year of the Console."

Sorry but I can't agree there. BioShock is out for PC, as is Call of Duty 4 (Not to mention CoD4 for PC can have 48 players in a game opposed to 18 on the 360 and 24 on the PS3). We can also safely say that Assassins Creed is going to come out for PC too soon (hence the PC on their site), and Mass Effect will probably follow suit just like KOTOR did. Halo 1 and 2 came out for PC and I'm going to have to laugh at you if you don't think Halo 3 will come out for PC too eventually.